Pie plate



-Aug. 1 4, 1928.

R. M. SMYTHE PIE PLATE Original Filed Aug 2, 1923 mvENioR- 1 i/c/lmo/y 5Mrr// A'ITORNEYS i Reissued Aug. 14, 1928.

UNITED A srA'rEs PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD BMYTHE, OF BOON'I'ON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, 1'0 TE E SAVE-ALL PIE IPLATE 00., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., 'A CORPORATION PIE PLATE.

Original 1T0. 1,568,896, dated January 5, 1928, Seriaifili'o. 655,238, filed August 2, 1923. Application for I reissue 'iiled January 7, 1928. Serial No. 245,228.

The baking of fruit pies has not heretofore been satisfactory, because of the juice boilingout between the top and bottom crusts, and not only becoming a loss, but also mussin the oven. Because of these discouraging di%culties the baking of fruit pies is but little practiced.

It has beenthe custom in the'present art to insert through the crust a tubular paper 1 or cardboard vent to tend to prevent the steam from forcing the juice out between the upper and lowercrusts of the pie, with the resultant loss of juice and deterioration in the, quality of the pie, and to reduce the annoyance of the dripping of the juice upon the hot stove or oven floor.

It is an object of the present invention to rovide a pie' plate of such construction and configuration as will overcome the foregoing difliculties without the necessity of resorting to the aforesaid ventlng means.

A further object of the invention resides in so constructin such a pie plate as will 'ermit of the rea y removal of t e pie there- In without mutilation.

Other objects and advantages of the inventiog'win be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: 4

Figure 1 is aperspective view of. a pie plate constructed .in accordance with the present improvements,

Figure 2 is a sectional view of a portion thereof, and Figure 3 is a corresponding .view of the same shown on a larger scale.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, the bottom of'the pie plate is designated by the numeral 11 and its side wall shown as slightly concaved, by the numeral 10. A border ledge or brim 12 is merged at its inner edge with the upper edge of the side wall and has aslight upward inclination toward its lar er periphery. A rim 13 extends upwar y from the outer edge portion of the'ledge 12, said rim, in the preferred embodiment being flared outwe'dly to a slightly less extent than'the side wall 1(). The dimensions of the rim 13 and its angular disposition with respect to the ledge 12 is sue uded from the pie during baking from flowas to permit close nestingof a stack of similar plates, to prevent fluid'material ex- 1 ing over the free edge of said rim and to prevent the establishing of ready paths of -flow of liquid over said edge of said rim,

such as would be established if the rim, within the area of its juice-retaining region, were given a substantial degree of upward and outward curvature. The said free edge of the rim, as indicated at :1 forms a peripherally dislposed pivotal support for a knife blade. s more clearly indicated in Fig. 3 wherein the two dotted lines, aid in identifyin the location thereof, I prefer. that the le e or brim 12 and the rim 13 be run toget er by means of distinct, fillet 18 and that the rim be inclined to a less extent than the side walllO.

The border led or brim 12 preferably has a pronounce upward inclination and merges into the side wall 10 on a downward ly slanting convexly curved juncturezone,

' whence said side wall is continued downwardly and inwardly on a gradual slope. The ledge or brim 12 forms a seat for the peripheral portions of the lower crust and allows the pie-filling an opportunity to extend artly over said seat'between the upper and ower crusts, thus producing a rim on the pie suflicient to confine the filling but without said rim bein a dense mass of crust,

such as is frequently ound on pies. In the preferred form of the invention, the lower crust or dough therefor, taking the inclination of the ledge or brim 12, is engaged only at its outer edge ortions by the upper crust, and. the ledge or rim 12, by having the inward and downward inclination and by merging on a downwardly slanting convex curvature into the gradually sloping side wall 10, imparts to the pie a distinctiveri'm formation and enables the convenient removal of the pie from the plate. The pie plate is circular, 'as usual.

In Figure 2 of the drawing I have shown a bottom crust 17 in position with the filling 14 therein, the upper edge 15 of the lower crust resting on the brim portion '12 of the plate. At 16 is indicated the top crust of the pie having its outer edge attached in the crust. p

In the operation of the device, the dough having been rolled out, the pie plate min- .usual manner to the edge 15- of thelower verted over the sheet of dough and the uper crust cut therefrom. This disk w1ll orm the upper crust 16 of the pie, but, of course, is not put in place until after the lower crust is put in the plate and trimmed off around the edges in the well known manner. The filling 14 is then inserted and the upper crust applied, as indicated in Figure 2, with its edge in en agement with the edge 15 of the lower crust, oth edges being united and supported on the brim or ledge 12.

Should any juices escape through the edges of the upper and lower crusts it will be obvious that they will be prevented from running onto the stove or oven floor b means of the rim 13 which will direct them ackwardly onto the top of the pie.

By providing the slight de ression or concavity in the wall 10 and by aring outwardly the rim ortion 13 and brim 12, it will be seen that t is particular construction of pie plate will materially assist the removal of a pie without mutilation, inasmuch as the table knife downwardly directed in line with the rim may readily be inserted beneath the edges of the ie crust and then pass down below the b0 of the pie without damage thereto. As t a knife is inserted beneath the edges of the pie crust. by downward movement in line with the rim 13 the blade of the knife is automatically shifted inwardly by the ledge or brim ,12 to the greater angle of the side wall 10 and the knife is then progressively advanced along the inner contour of the plate toward its center. The first effect will be to cause the edge of the pie crust to flex upwardly against the surace of the knife blade, until the blade reaches the position and assumes the angle necessary to enable it to follow the inner contour of the side wall 10. It is important that the de ree of flexure of the crust during this part 0 the o eration shall not reach the point at which t e crust would break from the pie body and the conditions necessary for maintaining the coherence of the crust structure are provided for in my new pie plate by limiting the flexure of the crust to angles embraced within the middle range of acute angl'. By the middle range of acute angles "I mean to exclude angles which approximate'a right angle or angles excessivel I of t e order of approximately 25 to After the ed es 0 the pie crust have been flexed as 'descri ed, the knife advances downs wardly alon the surface of the side 10, and then along t e bottom 11 of the plate, and, since the side wall slopes-outwardly and upwardly from thebottom at an angle in the middle ran of acute angles as heretofore described, t e knife will at first follow the same direction, the result being that as the knife thereupon moves along the bottom 11,

the'pie body, acting like an element moving line aa is obtained b acute. but I intend to include angles on a cammed surface, slides gradually upward along the blade. This sliding action begins, as soon as the knife'first starts its movement along the bottom and continues so long as the blade is advanced. It will be seen that during the advance of the blade along the bottom 11 the pivotal point of the blade, which initially was at m (Fig. 2) has shifted to y. The point w is, however, located, as shown, in .such relation with the other elements of the plate that it becomes a pivotal support for the knife blade only when the .blade exceeds an angle within the middle range of acute angles as described. This arrangement of the several elements constituting the plate makes it possible to remove the pie or a segment of pie from said plate without mutilation of the pie crust structure at any part thereof.

It will be observed that in the structure as described there is a co-ordination as between the bottom, the inclined side wall, the ledge, and the less inclined rim, with respect to their relative angular dispositions that a knife, when inserted and progressively advanced along the inner contour of the plate toward its center, will first cause the edge of the pie crust to flex upwardly to an angle not exceeding an angle within the middle range of acute angles, whereupon the is body, as the knife advances, slides gradua ly upward along said knife, said sliding action beginning as soon'as the knife first starts its movement along the bottom and continuing as the pivotal point of the knife changes from the line of uncture between the side wall and the ledge to the free edge of the run.

It will .be further observed, as clearly shown in Figs. '2 and 3, that the co-ordination of the structure is preferably such that the straight line aa forms an approximatetriangular figure as between its portion A, the line B representing the side wall, and the line C representing that part of the bottom subtended by the angle formed by A and B. In this triangular figure the line B is intermediate in length as between the longer line A and the shorter line C. The drawing it, as a straight line, through t e It will be apparent from e drawing that the configuration and dimensions of the various components of the is plate, as well as the co-ordination of ese several components in the assembled structure, is such that each plate will nest closely, with substantially continuous surfacecontact, with pie plates of similar contour. This is an important consideration in that when the plates are made of metal as is common practice, they'are shipped from the factory in nested relation. e weight of a column of plates is substantial and unless the lates are shaped and dimensioned not 0 y-to ints a: and y.

carry out their functions as pie-bakin in- 'strumentalities, but also their nesting unction, they are likely to be bent or dlstorted in shipment.

I claim: 1..A pie plate comprising a circular bottom, a downwardly and inwardly sloping side wall, an upwardly and outwardly inclined border flange or brim extending from the upper portion of said side wall and an.

upwardly and outwardly flaring rim at the outer edge of said flange or bnm, said inolined flange or brim merging into said side wall on a downwardly slanting convexly curved juncture zone, and said flange or brim and said rim being run together by means of a distinct fillet.

2. A pie plate having a substantially flat bottom mergin into an upward] and'outwardly incline side wall, said si e wall terminatlng in an outwardly directed ledge or brim, and an upwardly ,and outwardly inclined rim formed in continuation with said hereuntq 

